March 11, 2002

LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE APPROVES BILLS TO PREVENT DOMESTIC
AND SCHOOL VIOLENCE AND ASSIST TROUBLED YOUTH

The Select Committee on Children reported out 19 bills today, the committee’s deadline, including five bills to help prevent violence in childrens’ lives and to shift away from institutional treatment of troubled youth. According to co chairs Rep. Mary Mushinsky and Sen. Don Williams (D-Killingly), two of the measures should enhance child safety in domestic and school settings.

The first safety bill, SB 334, An Act Concerning Domestic Violence, will link any person who applies for a restraining order in a domestic violence situation to a victim advocate or domestic violence counselor to assist them through the hearing process the order requires. The State’s Office of Victim Advocacy endorsed the idea as a way to ensure that restraining orders don’t get dropped after the victim realizes they must be present to pursue the restraining order against a threatening person. According to Sen. Don Williams, co-chair, "We need to strengthen the restraining order process to provide greater protection for victims, alert police when a search for weapons is appropriate pursuant to such order, and require courts to carefully scrutinize violations of such orders."

The Office of Victim Advocacy also endorsed RB 5425, AAC School Reporting of Bullying Behavior. The bill will require local Boards of Education to have their principals develop a procedure for students, teachers, and school staff to make anonymous reports on incidents of bullying behavior; keep records of incidents; and report on measures taken to reduce bullying behavior. The bill also requires the State Board of Education share information on bullying prevention with school districts. Rep. Mary Mushinsky, co-chair, said the bill was written in response to a child suicide in Meriden and the near-suicide of a child in East Haven. "Since we raised the bill, parents have come forward with many examples of bullying and threatening behavior toward their child. This bill will spotlight the problem and hopefully allow students to concentrate on their studies in peace." The Connecticut Association of Boards of Education opposes the bill.

The Committee also approved three bills to redirect troubled youth into alternative programs. RB 335, AAC The Placement of Children, will direct judges to order children to attend rehabilitative programs designed to meet their mental health needs instead of placement in the Connecticut Juvenile Training School. RB 338, AAC The Juvenile Training Facility, directs the Department of Children and Families to establish separate tracks for different categories of offenders, and to provide small group home placement options for nonviolent youth. A third bill, RB 5176, AAC Youth in Crisis, clarifies legislation to restore supervision of "gray area" youth that took effect in 2001 covers 17-year-olds as well as 16-year-old youths. The Committee members are also working to kill an effort to repeal the newly enacted law by deleting it from the judicial budget.